Stuck in Sleep Mode Windows Vista Home Premium

Question

Hello, I have a new Dell E521 that came installed with Vista Home Premium. My system has an Athlon 64 X 2 5600 with 4 gb Sdram. My video card is a ATI Radeon X1300 Pro and my monitor is the 2407FPW. My issue is that the computer gets stuck in sleep mode when left idle for more than a few hours - SOMETIMES - not always, but often enough to be very annoying. When I get up in the morning or come home from work after being away fo 9 hrs I will find a black screen and no amount of mouse movement, hitting the esc key, space bar, swearing out loud, or jumping up and down will evoke a response. I have to hold the power key on the computer in to force a shut down and reboot. When it reboots, it often comes up with an error message saying the video driver has stopped responding but recovered. Then it is okay till the next time. Any idea what is wrong? Is it a power problem? A video driver problem? A Visa issue? I tried searching this forum and the tech support files but couldn't find the issue discussed. I've got very good warranty coverage - should I call Dell Support in?

RYNL · Answer

Hi,   I have the exact same problem and just mailed the support team. Hopefully they'll provide an answer, because this problem really bugs me out!

inspiron_wvhpe · Answer

Do you have the latest video driver installed on your system.   32Bit: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen   64Bit: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen

RYNL · Answer

Yes, but that didn't help. It actually made things worst the first time, because when the system rebooted my mouse and keyboard failed...

Krnysgirl · Answer

Oh, gee...thanks, Mary - wish I had known that. I did find a solution..albeit not the best...I read somewhere on Dell tech support to remedy this problem by turning off the the hibernate, sleep modes altogether. I was told to do this by clicking on the desktop, right click on 'personalize', choose screensaver, then 'change power settings' then set all the sleep modes to 'never' for the monitor, hard drive, computer, etc. I did this before leaving for work this morning and came home tonight to find my computer still awake and fine. Your idea would be fine, if it works, as it would allow me to still utilize the powersaving attributes. Think I will reset things and try it tonight to see if it works for me. I'll let you know.

Mary G · Answer

To both posters-- Hybrid Sleep requires you to press the power button briefly to wake the computer. You cannot move the mouse, press any key, etc.--those are only for waking the screen. When the computer goes into hibernation or hybrid sleep, the power button on the computer itself is the only way to wake it. Don't press too long or you will turn it off.

RYNL · Answer

The only remedy was to reboot and restore to old settings. It's working fine now. I turned off the sleepmode as suggested and so far I haven't encountered any problems.

RYNL · Answer

It worked for me so far. Your computer working again as well?

bmoura8 · Answer

Yes, that is where I am right now!   Dell support suggested uninstalling and reinstalling the ATI Video driver.  Now when Vista Home Premium's splash screen appears, both the keyboard and mouse fail.   Also happens when I try the various Safe Mode Vista modes!   How did you get your keyboard and mouse back?

bmoura8 · Answer

Yes, I did a System Restore as well to bring the PC back to normal.

Krnysgirl · Answer

Just an update.. Mary's suggestion of hitting the power button the computer to bring it out of hibernate mode..did not work. Nothing brought it out except to power down completely and reboot. So...I went back to the tech support suggestion of just setting everything not to go into sleep mode and so far so good. Hopefully Microsoft will fix this at some point.

Rebel9 · Answer

I don't know whether or not you have the latest BIOS (1.1.4), but if not, it MIGHT be worthwhile upgrading to this version. Sometimes BIOS updates will fix issues when nothing else seems to work.

roko1092 · Answer

I have the same problem and nothing works except hard power down and power up. After boot-up if left on log-in page, system goes to sleep and cannot recover. Tried quick push of power button to recover and hard drive activates but system never recovers. Have 20' Ultrasharp Wide screen with ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256MB video. Screen shows amber indicator meaning no video to screen.   PC is brand new XPS410, CDCR, E6600, 2.4G 4GB RAM, Vista Home, (spent fortune and believed in Dell CS-HUGE mistake-never again). Worked for days with DELL CS India, sent me a replacement system 3X even though I told them that wouldn't fix the problem. Kept 3rd system out of frustration. Most of India techs aren't even running Vista - they troubleshoot out of manuals. Bought 'In Home' suuport but Dell refused to send out tech. Said they only replace parts instructed by CS India. Was lucky enough to get one tech in Canada who was intelligent and articulate and solved slew of other problems that over 7 weeks Dell India (17 of their techs) could not fix. Have logs and photos. Last remaining problem which was not obvious at time is this sleep mode issue.     Bios is only thing I haven't tried.

Windows General

Stuck in Sleep Mode Windows Vista Home Premium

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